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Last Updated on
Monday, July 01, 2002
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Invasion!
Synopsis | Review
| Titles
"What is that Earth expression? 'It never rains but
it pours.'"
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ISSUES: |
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3 issues, monthly, Nov. 1988 - Jan. 1989. |
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WRITER(S): |
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Bill Mantlo, Keith Giffen. |
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ARTIST(S): |
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Keith Giffen, Todd McFarlane, Bart Sears, P.
Craig Russell, Al Gordon, Joe Rubinstein, Tom Christopher. |
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MAJOR HEROES: |
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Superman, most major DC heroes. |
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MAJOR VILLAINS: |
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An alien alliance consisting of races familiar to
DC fans: the Dominators, the Khunds, the Thanagarians, the
Gil'Dishpan, the Okaarans, the Citadel, the Durlans. |
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SUPPORTING CAST: |
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Snapper Carr, Vril Dox, and the other prisoners
in the Starlag fortress; the Daxaamites, who accompany the
invasion force as observers. |
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THE PLOT: |
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The Dominators, an alien race with a talent for
dominating other species, conclude that the genetic instability
of Homo sapiens produces too many unpredictable specimens
and must therefore be contained. With other races serving as
their invasion forces, they succeed in establishing beachheads
at several places on Earth. Earth's protectors unite to beat
back the aliens. |
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TRIVIA: |
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Invasion! told the origin of L.E.G.I.O.N.,
and brought back Snapper Carr, the JLA's mascot from its early
days. |
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RECOMMENDED READING: |
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Most of the aliens are from races already
encountered in the Legion of Super-Heroes series; see any
issue of Hawkworld for more on the Thanagarians. |
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THE DOMINATORS, an alien race that would go on
to play a pivotal role in the Legion of Super-Heroes' history in the
30th century, have rounded up dozens of Earthlings to conduct tests.
They want to know what it is about our planet that produces such a wide
range of genetic variety, and so they put the randomly selected humans
(including the Justice League's old pal, Snapper Carr) through a series
of very lethal tests. After six humans survive a test that only one
could have statistically survived, the Dominators conclude that
humanity's genetic potential is too great a risk to their plans of
conquest.
To that end, they recruit other alien races to join them in an
invasion of Earth. Their stated purpose: to remove all so-called
"superheroes" from the planet, but what the Dominators don't
tell their allies is that they want to create their own legion of
genetically superior soldiers from their research of the humans they've
collected.
Led by the Dominators and the warlike Khunds, the alien armada scores
several victories at first, establishing a beachhead in Melbourne,
Australia, invading several parts of the world (Cuba, Russia, the North
Pole) and causing the deaths of several heroes.
While the heroes launch a counterattack, one lone Dominator reveals
that he has discovered the secret of the "metagene," the
genetic factor that can turn people into superhumans in certain
situations. He uses his research to create a "gene bomb,"
which, when detonated, will destroy every human carrier of the metagene.
Meanwhile, in the alien prison known as the Starlag, the Dominators'
prisoners -- a collection of the surviving human guinea pigs and other
alien species -- start a revolt against their captors. The heroes then
receive help from an unexpected source and succeed in driving back the
invading force. But there's little time to celebrate before the gene
bomb is detonated, leaving the heroes to deal with both the sick and
dying heroes and a new crop of people suddenly bestowed with amazing new
powers.
SOMETIMES, IT'S EASY TO FORGET that comics are
supposed to be fun. Yes, they can be dark and gritty and socially
relevant and still be fun to read, but every once in a while you need a
story that knows how to go nuts.
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"One of DC's less remembered company-wide crossovers,
but certainly one of the more entertaining."
- The Slings and Arrows Comic Guide
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Invasion! is just that kind of story. The setup is simple, but
absolutely logical: why is it, after all, that Earth seems to have a
monopoly on all the superheroes? The "metagene" theory is a
plausible reason for the invasion, and once the stage is set, the battle
scenes and the aliens' eventual defeat are well-paced and totally
believable; the heroes rely just as much on military strategy as they do
on just rushing in with all fists flying.
With all the talent writing and drawing these issues -- not to
mention the huge supporting cast of heroes and aliens -- it would have
been so easy for the whole thing to collapse into a mess of endless
slugfests, but it doesn't. Each of the three core issues is 80 pages
long, and there's plenty of action to keep them all going at a fast
pace.
Invasion! will never make it on anyone's list of the most
important mini-series, but it's nice to know that, every once in a
while, we can forget the grim'n'gritty and just have fun. |
| Titles |
 | Adventures of Superman #449, 450 |
| Animal Man #6 |
| Captain Atom #24, 25 |
| Checkmate #11, 12 |
| Detective Comics #595 |
| Doom Patrol #17, 18 |
| Firestorm #80, 81, 82 |
| Flash #21, 22 |
| Justice League International #22, 23
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| Manhunter #8, 9 |
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| New Guardians #6, 7 |
| Power of the Atom #7, 8 |
| The Spectre (vol. 1) #23 |
| Swamp Thing #81 |
| Starman #5, 6 |
| Superman #26, 27 |
| Wonder Woman #25, 26, 27 |
| Uncanny X-Men #245 (Invasion parody) |
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| Spinoffs and Related Titles |
L.E.G.I.O.N.
(70 issues, 1989-1994)
One of the most underrated series in recent history,
L.E.G.I.O.N. followed the story of a group of the Dominators'
ex-prisoners as they build a galaxy-wide police force to fight injustice.
Their leader is Vril Dox, son of Superman's archenemy Brainiac, and he's
as ruthless as any villain when it comes to exploiting people in the name
of the greater good. Rarely dull and populated with an eclectic cast of
DC's outer-space creations, L.E.G.I.O.N. consistently scores the
right mix of humor and action. |
Blasters
(One-shot, 1989)
A less successful team to emerge from the Invasion!
series, the Blasters were led by Snapper Carr, the hip-talkin' teenager
from the 1960s JLA comics. The characters are lame, to say the least
(witness the British guy whose superpower is turning into a big fat
mirror), but the book's humor is just weird enough to make it worth a
read. |
Daily Planet Special
Edition
(One-shot, cover date Nov. 4, 1988)
The final page of Invasion! #1 shows us a Daily
Planet headline telling the aliens to drop dead. And the joke is, there
really was a newspaper with that headline on its front page. To hype the
mini-series, DC published a 16-page mock newspaper, complete with news of
the aliens' progress, a column by Clark Kent, comic strips and an advice
column. It's not required reading, but it's a fun look at the DC
Universe's most famous newspaper. |
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